The present invention relates to a printer capable of identifying a type of emulation IC card mounted in the printer.
A conventional printer which performs printing operation in accordance with coded control information (ESC code) from a host computer has been known. However, code systems of ESC code vary depending on computer makers. Therefore, a conventional printer has been designed such that various types of emulation integrated circuit (IC) cards, which store control programs of different makers, respectively, can be interchangeably mounted in the printer, thereby enabling the printer to perform printing operation regardless of a maker of a host computer to which the printer is connected.
However, only a host computer can discriminate a type of emulation IC card currently mounted in a printer, and hence inconvenience is caused.